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Ride VeloViewer tiling in Japan

-10C? Sleeping in a bivy?? Carrying your bike up a trail??? Another epic adventure! Well done! I enjoy reading about it but having camped out in mid winter in Kansas for a couple weeks, I no longer have the urge to challenge old man winter.

So, are you recording your tiles these days?
 
Awesome adventure!
Your stories are always great to read (in my cosy warm kitchen with a cup of hot coffee).
Looking forward to the next one.
 
Was thinking I'd head up toward Tokigawa but decided against it. Wanted to avoid using the train. So, did this instead. Only bagged 5 tiles but I earned them. Mostly paved until near the top, then gravelly bits. Happy to get back up in the mountains!


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Took advantage of the good weather and did a trip down to Shuzenji and then back up to Mishima.

Discovered a couple roads that I'd recommend to anyone wanting to go from Gotemba to Mishima on a well-paved, almost-no-traffic road, and another road from Shuzenji to Atami ..Route 80 (which someone on this board had recommended).


Climbing out of Gotemba had traffic as usual up 411. I turned off 411 and went down an abandoned road with lots of abandoned buildings and condos. I guess someone overestimated the demand for condos with a beautiful view of Fuji. This section of the road took me to a country club and I found myself riding on a golf cart track for a bit, until I connected up with the paved road some way down the mountain. But once I got past that, it was smooth sailing all the way to Mishima. One of the nicest roads I've been on. Highly recommended if you don't mind some ups and downs. No more than one or two cars passed me.

After reaching the Mishima environs, it was back to riding on busy roads with not much shoulder till I got to Shuzenji.

I overnighted at a ryokan in Shuzenji then started Day 2's riding at 9:30. Things started well. Got on route 80 (which I highly recommend). Beautiful scenery, little traffic. So, I'm climbing up to the pass and I'm 500 meters from the top with what should have been a long descent into Atami (reward for the climb). But 'NO!' Right there was a painting crew. Bikes were 'Dame.' Thanks guys!! "No biggie," I thought. OK, I'll just go down the mountain a bit and come back up on the pass another way. Problem is, there is no other way that doesn't include using the Skyline road. I thought that maybe, since I'd only be on it for about 5km, maybe, just maybe I could talk the toll-booth-oji into letting me pass... but 'NO!' Since I'd now climbed that mountain twice, and the second time included some rindo, I wasn't in the mood to do it again, and I didn't see any better chance to get over it and down to Atami, so Plan B. Decided to bag it and descended to Mishima. Took the train back from there. Beautiful weather and I had hoped to try the east coast of Izu from Atami up to Odawara by bike, but it wasn't to be... this time. But, "I'll be back!"

Plus 40T and some beautiful views of Fuji and the countryside of Izu. A great time was had by all.

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Set up the bivy. As night fell, the temperature immediately started to plummet. The lowest I saw on the garmin was -10C. No wind at first, amazingly silent up there.
Brushed the ice from condensation off the bivy, starting hustling downhill to warm up. Still was a chilly and rocky descent back the same way down south nokogiri.

@sean-e Still can't believe you did this ride/hike overnight in those temps in the mountains. Very impressed. Also, wondering what bivy you used.
 
Snagged a new chunk of Chiba yesterday. 26 new tiles, and some tired muscles today. I'm definitely out of practice.

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I turned my back on Chiba today, and went out to Yamanashi for some solo tiling madness. Robbing some ideas from @Karl's past adventures - namely Uenohara Area and More gravel than expected - I planned a 90 km route that would nicely fill a gap in my cluster and give my barely-ridden Niner some gravel time (I was expecting - nay, anticipating it - hence the choice of bike.)


Here's the beastie in all her glory. Not the lightest bike, but the perfect tool for this job...

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That gap in the tunnel gate... yeah... that's significantly narrower that the Niner's flared handlebars.

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I had to drop the front wheel out in order to squeeze the bike through... at both ends of the tunnel. I say "had to"; the main road below has a long, perfectly-serviceable tunnel, but I wanted to do this one because on the map it was clearly shorter and looked likely to be less boring. No bonus tiles were achieved through this folly, but it was a good part of the adventure. The road was clearly marked as closed. I could have gone back if I needed to.

The inside of the tunnel wasn't too bad. Water streaming through cracks in the ceiling in some places and rocks strewn about the place - possibly occasioned by said water ingress. I didn't inspect too closely.

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The downhill on the far side was great fun - totally messed-up, abandoned road.

Next came the biggest climb and the hardest tile to acquire. Even @Karl doesn't have this one yet, despite two attempts. I knew that, and was expecting a challenge. @Karl - you might have mentioned the ford, buddy!

Climb starts off fine, transitioning to easy gravel after about 800 m.

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Then 200 m later there's only a frigging FORD

I forgot Rule 4 of Veloviewer Exploring. Rule #4: "No, you can't ride through it. It's too slippery."

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So I stumbled, and instantly got wet shoes. On the downhill, I did it properly: stopped, took off my (still-damp) shoes and socks, and waded through like a sensible person.

Above there, the dead-end rindō is about 3.5 km of varied gravel conditions at an average grade of 6%. Not too bad. The trail finishes somewhat abruptly, a way before the map suggests it should. I think this used to be a bridge...

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And so I abandoned the bike and set forth on foot, playing stepping-stones to cross the river three times and scaling the banks to get past three flow-control dams. For part of the way there were vestiges of a washed-out road, but mostly it was just me, the river, the trees, the wildlife, and the occasional ninja armed with buzzsaw blades...

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Narrow escape, that!

I hiked 750 m, out-and-back, in 32 min. I was taking my time and being careful, as this would not be a good time to require emergency care. My reward, just before the fourth flow-control dam, was the elusive tile. Good thing too, as there was no safe way to get over and around that one.

TILE!!

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The second half of the ride was comparatively plain-sailing, including a gentle 15 km downhill cruise. No drama, although the little 10% climb to get my final tile for the day was tough on my tired legs.

And here's the GIF you've all been waiting for:

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Although it pains me to say it, you have bagged the tile that eluded me twice. ARGH!!!...I mean, Good job!! Fortunately, I still have a couple tiles up that way that you didn't get, so I still have some bragging rights (diminished though they may be). I've been off the tile hunt for a bit since the virus has made me self-conscious about riding the trains with my bike. Might have a hard time getting people to believe that my tiling expeditions are essential travel. Meanwhile, you've been off conquering Chiba. Your feats have made any thoughts of surpassing your tile count...'una-Chiba-ble.'

BTW, I didn't mention the ford because I wanted you to have the full experience of the route. Giving you all the gouge would take the fun out of it.

Finally, was that a bagel on your bike seat or is that a new type of padding?
 
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